Half-Life 2 Walkthrough :

This walkthrough for Half-Life 2 [PC] has been posted at 04 Feb 2010 by cam den and is called "Deathmatch FAQ". If walkthrough is usable don't forgot thumbs up cam den and share this with your freinds. And most important we have 18 other walkthroughs for Half-Life 2, read them all!

Walkthrough - Deathmatch FAQ

PC HALF LIFE 2 DEATHMATCH GUIDE
VERSION: 1.0
AUTHOR: SYNAPSE
Copyright 2005 Chris Turner.
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| Table of Contents |
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1. Introduction
2. Weapons
3. The official maps
4. Strategies
5. Known exploits
6. FAQ
7. Update history
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| 1. Introduction |
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Half-Life 2 deathmatch rules. I'm far from godlike, but I see plenty of people
making dumb mistakes. So I decided to write a guide to try and help improve the
standard of the competition. This is a guide on how to win rather than on how
to have fun, but everyone likes winning, right?
The best way to get better, though, is to practice. And the best time to
practice is when you're getting beaten by someone better than you. That's when
you learn new strategies and play your hardest. You don't learn anything
getting scores of 100 - 6 against people who've never played the game before,
even if it is pretty fun for a while.
This isn't a tutorial. I haven't written this guide to teach you the controls,
so go play the game for an hour. However, I've tried to keep everything fairly
simple.
One more thing: this is my first guide, so bear with me. I do intend to update
it, so if you have any corrections, additions or questions e-mail me
(synapse1712@gmail.com). And no, I don't want to play you.
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| 2. Weapons |
------------
Gravity gun / manipulator / zero point energy gun:
One of the four weapons you start with, this is your best friend in HL2DM.
Tables, office chairs, filing cabinets, radiators, sinks, and tons of other
objects give an instant kill at close range. The smaller objects such as
toilets have the range to kill people at decent ranges. You can use the alt
fire function to catch objects thrown at you, but small objects (toilets and
the small filing cabinets) are easy to miss - you'll find crouching helps. If
you come up against someone who tries to catch objects in a fight (their gun
glows when they are holding alt fire), you'll find sliding an object along the
floor or running right up in front of them before firing works. Explosive
barrels are also handy.
The gravity gun is also useful for:
- Grabbing a large object and using it for makeshift cover
- Catching the energy balls fired from the combine pulse rifle and then firing
them back
- Throwing people's grenades back at them / throwing your own at people
- Picking up weapons / health from across the room before the other guy
- Throwing weapons at people. Let me explain. One of the game's more irritating
features is weapon auto switching. If you pick up a weapon the game rates
higher than the one currently equipped, you will switch to it. So if you happen
to find an empty magnum lying on the ground, and you already have full magnum
ammo, you will not pick it up. This means you can grab it with the gravity gun,
and throw it at some sucker with an SMG. Whilst they're going through the
horrifyingly long reload sequence, you can easily kill them. I'll admit this
isn't very useful, but when it works it is a beautiful sight.
Pistol:
Another of the starting weapons. It's semi auto, so you can fire off a clip (18
rounds) in a couple of seconds, although they don't do much damage. I only use
it when I'm out of SMG ammo, but it's slightly more accurate than the SMG, so
you may find another use for it.
Magnum:
I love this weapon. Perfect accuracy at moderate ranges, and (I think) an easy
kill if you get a headshot. A body shot does 75 damage, so I generally follow
up a successful shot with the SMG (a fast moving target at close range can be
pretty hard to hit). Most people can't aim these properly, or, even worse,
stand still to aim them. If you come up against someone like that just jump
around and strafe whilst shooting their head.
SMG:
This thing has an incredible fire rate (about 15 rounds in a second!) so you'll
easily get through the two magazines you start with (45 rounds each) in a
firefight or two. It makes up for the fire rate with terrible accuracy, though.
Once you pick up a pulse rifle or a shotgun this tends to be unused, but it is
very useful for taking off the last few health points of an opponent rather
than waiting for your shotgun/magnum to reload. The secondary fire (impact
grenades) is very handy, I find the best use is to surprise somebody with one
and then immediately start spraying to finish them off - they'll be dead before
the smoke clears. Even better is if you come across two people in an SMG
battle; chances are they'll both have low health and so landing a grenade
between them should net you both kills with no loss of health.
Pulse rifle / Combine standard issue / ar2:
The SMG on steroids. If someone opens up on you with one of these, get out of
the way fast. 30 rounds in a magazine, and a few rounds to the head will
dispose of anyone. The secondary fire is also pretty damn cool. It takes a
fraction of a second to charge up, but the ball bounces around for ages and if
it touches anyone they're dead. Beware of people catching it with the gravity
gun and firing it back at you though. The secondary fire is most useful in
tight rooms where you can just run away and let it do all the work. Don't
bother using it outside unless there's someone right in front of you, since it
generally bounces away into the sky before hitting anything.
Shotgun:
Every first person shooter has to have one of these. Primary fire shoots one
round, secondary shoots two. You get a slightly better fire rate with the
first. Generally I only use the secondary if I know I can hit someone, since
once they're dodging a shot isn't guaranteed and wasting 2 shells out of six is
not a good idea. The reload sequence is so slow that I generally switch weapons
to finish my opponent off. It's also worth noting than pressing fire during
reloading will stop it with however many shells you have loaded, although there
is a delay before you fire. When you come up against a shotgun the best thing
to do is keep your distance; the range of the weapon is terrible.
Crossbow:
My number one favorite weapon, and the closest thing to a sniper rifle in the
game. Each hit does 100 points of damage, meaning you'll get an instant kill
unless your target has acquired some HEV power (in which case you should finish
them off with something a bit easier to aim). It does need a little practice to
use, since the bolts take time to arrive and they travel in a curve. In tight
corridors you are almost guaranteed a kill, but if your target has room to jump
and sidestep you're better off using your SMG.
Grenade:
The most underused weapon in the game, in my opinion. Primary fire throws them
a good distance, secondary rolls them a few feet along the ground. The
distinctive sound and light mean you're not going to get many kills by people
not seeing them, but they are still useful for tons of things. The very fact
they are so conspicuous means they are great for clearing rooms; if you throw
one into a room and pull out your SMG, the occupants will run straight into you
and will probably be too unprepared to offer any significant resistance.
If you're being chased, roll one as you turn a corner, and by the time your
pursuer sees it, it will be too late for him to get out of the way. If someone
is camping, throw a grenade and then follow up with a filing cabinet while
they're distracted. The best trick, though, is dropping a grenade, picking it
up with the grav gun and throwing it at someone. With practice you can time it
so the grenade will explode just as it lands next to your opponent. This is a
very useful skill to perfect, and works exceptionally well against people who
like to crouch in corners with the pulse rifle.
Rocket Launcher:
Another FPS staple. Once you've fired the rocket it will follow the laser,
making kills even easier to achieve. You cannot fire the rocket without laser
guidance, however. When firing this, you need to aim for the feet, since it's a
lot easier to hit the floor by him and rely on splash damage than to actually
hit him in the face. This means a height advantage is a big help; you'll find
it much harder to hit someone when they're on the same level as you. When you
come up against someone using one of these, the best thing to do is to run up
right in their face. Chances are they won't be dumb enough to kill you and
themselves, which gives you a chance to hit them with the weapon of your choice
(I recommend a melee weapon) before they have a chance to swap something else.
If you're too late to get up close and the rocket was fired, you can defend
against rockets by throwing something at it, larger objects such as tables work
best. Another thing worth remembering is that everyone can see the little laser
dot, so your position is easily given away.
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| 3. The official maps |
----------------------
I'll only put up some tips for the 2 official maps available (though another
should be coming soon), since I haven't seen any good quality custom ones yet.
dm_lockdown:
his is one of my all time favorite maps for a first person shooter. I generally
head for the upper floor, since the health charger is up there, along with a
crossbow, a shotgun, and plenty of other stuff scattered around. Once you get
the crossbow, the narrow corridors mean you're guaranteed some easy kills.
Don't bother going for the rocket launcher through the vent, since by the time
you've crawled there and back you could have got more kills with any weapon.
Also, the plug in the nearby room (with the magnum and the SMG grenade)
controls a fan. When you put the plug in with the gravity gun it turns on for a
few seconds, sucking in and killing anyone in the vent. Sadly you don't get the
kill, but it's still worth doing even if you're not sure there's anyone in
there.
When you see someone on the charger, the best thing to do it to use the gravity
gun, since it's usually an instant kill regardless of health. If you see
someone in there from outside, the only option is a pulse rifle energy ball;
nothing else will kill someone with over 100 combined health in one hit and
he'll just run. When you use the charger the best thing to do is to keep
crouched, and check behind you every second or so. I avoid staying in the room
for more than a few seconds at a time.
There are a few popular camping points on this map, although none of them are
effective. People in the vent to the rocket launcher are best dealt with by
hugging the wall in order to come up next to the vent out of sight, and then
firing a small filing cabinet into the vent. People under the stairs close to
the charger room are even easier to dispatch. Their position is given away
since their shadow shows up on the small landing between the two flights of
stairs. Once you know they are there, grenades can be dropped in from above or
small objects can be fired in.
You can clear any of the railings in this level by crouch-jumping (ie jumping
then crouching in mid-air). You can even clear the gap by the crossbow spawn
(and the railings on either side) if you sprint into the jump.
dm_overwatch:
I think this map is not terribly well designed, but it is still good fun. The
main feature is the central building, with three floors. The bottom is
manipulator country. The spawn points at either end mean there is a good chance
of someone appearing behind you and throwing something at you, so you need to
keep your back to a wall as much as possible. You sometimes get people crouched
in one corner with the pulse rifle, but they never last long since you can grab
an object to use as cover while running towards them, before shooting it at
them.
The second floor is just a target range for the guy on the third floor with the
rocket launcher. Believe me, there is almost always a guy on the third floor
with a rocket launcher. If you choose to be that guy then there isn't much to
say except keep strafing while you're up there and remember to pick up the suit
battery and health pack when they spawn.
It's a lot more fun, however, to make the life of that guy complete hell. There
are dozens of ways to do this:
-Go around the back of the building where there are 2 SMG grenades and 2
regular grenades. The SMG grenades can easily be launched up and slightly
forwards so they drop right on the rocket spawn, which is usually where someone
is standing. The regular grenades can be thrown up there with the manipulator,
too. As a bonus, any explosions up there tend to knock the RPG off of the roof,
so it will land near you.
- In the same place there is an explosive barrel. You can throw this up there
to the same effect, although you won't get the kill (it registers as a
suicide). It's better to shoot it with the SMG on the way down so it explodes
just before impact. This will get you the kill.
- There is also a magnum spawn nearby, so you can easily kill the guy with a
few rounds from that.
- The crossbow also works well.
- You can throw any objects (radiators, filing cabinets) up there. If you aim
it right they will drop right on their head.
If you do actually want to get up there, the best way is by stealth. People up
there often go onto the combine platform to hit people on the road below, so
that's your chance. Sprint all the way up there and get up close to them so
they cannot use the rocket launcher and then hit them with the weapon of your
choice. It's handy to pick up the shotgun from the middle floor as you pass for
this purpose.
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| 4. Strategies |
---------------
- When in a firefight, you've got to keep moving. Jump around, use your sprint
button, use cover when you're reloading. Your accuracy is unaffected by moving,
sprinting, jumping or crouching, so don't be afraid to move.
- Team deathmatch is just deathmatch with some people you aren't allowed to
shoot. They're still rivals - no one cares about the team score. So don't go
out of your way to help those on your team unless you know they'll do the same.
- DON'T carry the goddamn explosive barrels around! All it takes is for someone
behind you to fire a few SMG rounds into it, and you're dead. The number of
n00bs I have killed like this... Although I'm not saying they're not useful -
if someone is using a crossbow, or a manipulator, or is busy reloading, then
there's little chance of them blowing up a barrel in the fraction of a second
it takes to pick it up and throw it at them. If they don't die, then a quick
burst from the SMG will finish them off.
- Get to know the maps - this is vital to your success. Until you know the maps
you won't know where to get weapons, what spots to avoid, where to find health,
etc. All of these are vital.
- You don't get points for fighting nice, so don't be afraid to take advantage
of someone's vulnerability. If they've just spawned, or they're typing, or they
have lag, they are an easy kill. If you don't take it, someone else will.
Besides, they'd do the same to you. For this reason, don't type whilst you're
alive, or at least hide somewhere if you must.
- Don't be predictable. If you've nearly killed someone and they run around a
corner, don't follow them because you can expect to meet a table coming the
other way. Instead wait a few seconds so they think you've given up, and then
sprint around and finish them off.
- Which reminds me. If you happen to notice someone is following you, you
should have an easy kill. Drop a grenade, set a slam, get out your melee
weapon... the choice is yours.
- Conserve your sprint bar. You should always try to have a couple of bars left
for use in an emergency; better to use it to dodge an energy ball or to escape
a madman with a crowbar than to waste it when no one is around. The best way to
conserve sprint is to be constantly jumping when you sprint. You only need to
tap sprint between jumps, so the bar will last for ages and you'll still get
maximum speed.
- Don't camp. I know a lot of HL2DM players are CS addicts, but this is a
different game; it simply isn't an effective strategy against a half decent
player. You'll maybe get a couple of kills by surprising people, but then
they'll know where you are, and they'll be pissed off. Plus you're not moving,
so you're just an easy manipulator kill.
- Don't be afraid to switch weapons during a firefight. If you've got a
crossbow, and you're trying to hit someone who's jumping around like crazy,
switch to the SMG and spray them instead. Similarly, if you hit someone with a
crossbow bolt or magnum and they don't die, chances are they have very little
health left. Rather than taking your chances on getting lucky with the next
shot, finish them off with a shotgun/SMG/pulse rifle.
- Know when to run. If you're outgunned and you have little health, you may as
well take your chances on sprinting to the nearest health pack than taking a
few hp off your attacker and making him an easier kill for someone else.
- Try to guess what your enemy is up to. If you get into an SMG fight with
someone and you see him running away once his clip is empty, chances are he has
little health left and a quick burst will finish him off. It's worth noting
that people will always head to health packs or superior weapons in a
firefight, so use this to your advantage when you can.
- Try to know who's who on the server. Take a quick look at the list when you
join a server, to see who's doing well and who isn't. If you're fighting a
n00b, you can probably get away with things that would be too risky against
someone experienced. That said, n00bs can get lucky.
- Keep your eyes open all the time - look behind you occasionally. You never
know when someone is sprinting up behind you with a shotgun.
- There is no point conserving the more valuable ammunition (SMG grenades,
crossbow bolts, pulse rifle energy balls). Obviously don't waste them, but you
never know when someone will turn up behind you with a radiator and waste all
your carefully horded gear.
- Manipulate your enemy. If you're in a tight space with a ton of objects (eg
the lower floor in dm_overwatch) and you pull out your manipulator, chances are
he'll do the same. If you've got very low health this is very helpful since you
have a decent chance of a kill compared to an SMG battle where high health is
crucial.
- This brings me on to my next point. When you are very low on health, try to
use an instant kill weapon (crossbow, pulse rifle energy ball, manipulator), as
when someone starts spraying, you'll still have a good chance of a kill
(depending on your aim).
- A popular strategy at the moment seems to be ambushing. This is when you hide
somewhere dark and wait for someone to walk past. Then leap out and hit them
with your melee weapon as they are walking away. You'll have to swap hiding
places every couple of kills since people will be expecting you. I don't use
this since a) you get very few kills compared to running and finding people,
b) If they hear your footsteps you'll be screwed, and c) it's really, really
boring. Variations include hiding and then shotgunning people, and hiding and
then detonating hidden satchel charges.
- When you aren't in a fight, you should be heading towards a better weapon.
There's no point wandering around looking for people to fight when you could be
increasing your chances of winning in a firefight by getting a more powerful
gun.
- The game is called deathmatch for a reason. Getting kills is your first and
only objective. Don't waste time attacking someone if you have no chance of
getting a kill. If you spray at someone at the other end of a corridor as they
are running away, all you've done is waste ammo and made them easier for
someone else to kill.
- Don't shoot as soon as you see someone if they haven't seen you. Sometimes it
pays to get a lot closer before surprising them, so you can maximize the effect
of the first few shots.
- Use a dark player model (one of the combine ones). This isn't a big advantage
but it gives you the edge when fighting in a darkened area.
- Learn to adapt. If your favorite strategy is not working against someone, try
something different. Don't try the same thing over and over if they have an
effective way to counter it, find something new to try. The best example of
this is people on the top of the building on dm_overwatch with the rocket
launcher. If you're up there and someone has the sense to snipe you with the
magnum or crossbow, try something else.
- Use sound. When you're being shot at from behind, the sound tells you what
weapon it is doing the shooting, and so you know whether you have a chance if
you turn round and return fire. You can hear the pulse rifle charging up before
it fires, which gives you a chance to get out your grav gun and catch it before
you're disintegrated. Grenades also have a distinctive warning sound which is
very useful
- A cheap but effective strategy is the use of distracting (ie pornographic)
sprays. Anything which will make other players stop and stare is something
which gives you an easy headshot.
- Scripts are another cheap but effective strategy. You can get scripts to grav
jump, crouch jump, hit stuff with the manipulator, and do tons of other stuff
in a single button press. I think they take a lot of skill out of the game, but
if you do want to use them there are plenty of tutorials available.
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| 5. Known exploits |
-------------------
There are plenty of issues in HL2DM to give an advantage to the player
unhindered by morality. Some see them as cheats that should be taken out
immediately, and others see them as "features" which reward those who have been
playing longer. There has been no word from valve on these, server admins often
ban for doing them repeatedly. I expect most of them will be removed in the
next patch anyway.
- The most common exploit is simply crouching. The hitboxes for the crouching
models are completely messed up, meaning shots to head and upper body generally
miss and never do much damage. You can empty an entire clip into a crouching
players head and do no damage at all. There is a simple solution however: aim
for the lower legs; hits there do full damage. Once you know this, you are
facing a slow moving (and generally unskilled) player who is just as easy to
shoot as everyone else. Furthermore, their slow movement makes them especially
vulnerable to crossbow bolts, SMG grens, energy balls, the magnum, and the grav
gun.
- Grav jumping is also pretty popular. Most people do it with a script, but it
can be done by hand with a little practice. It allows you to reach great
heights and with practice you can get just about anywhere. However, you damage
yourself quite a lot and by the time you've set it up you'll probably be dead,
so it isn't very useful. It's still fun to play around with on empty servers
though.
- Another, less known issue is the ability to "freeze" objects. If you get a
load of objects (50 or more) and heap them up, the physics engine will stop
treating them as separate items and freeze them together, to improve
performance. This means you have a huge, immovable pile of junk that cannot be
broken up by any means. This would be incredibly useful for building barricades
and blocking spawn points, were it not for factors like: most maps don't have
enough items, it takes so long to do the map will have changed by the time
you're done, and it's boring to do.
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| 6. FAQ |
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Q: Can I turn off auto switching? (When you pick up a weapon the game thinks is
better than the one you are holding, you will automatically switch to it. This
can be devastating in a firefight if you pick up an empty magnum, for example)
A: No. Believe me, I've tried. Hopefully the next patch will address that. In
the meantime, get into the habit of pressing Q to instantly switch back.
Q: How do I grav jump?
A: There are lots of ways to do it, but I don't want to tell you because there
are too many people doing it already. Besides, it isn't very useful.
Q: Are there any ways to reduce lag?
A: Play on low ping servers, avoid servers with more than 10 players, and turn
your graphics settings down. Also, maps with a lot of surplus junk lying around
(cough overwatch cough) tend to cause more lag than maps with less. It's worth
adding servers you don't lag on to your favorites.
Q: Can I change the weapon I spawn with?
A: Yup. First go to this directory:
C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\XXXXX\half-life 2 deathmatch\hl2mp\cfg
(where XXXXX is your steam username)
Create a new text file in there called "autoexec.cfg" (without quotes), and
open it in notepad. Paste in the line "cl_defaultweapon weapon_smg1" (without
quotes), save it and close it. Now when you run the game you will spawn with
the SMG equipped, which some people prefer. You can change weapon_smg1 to
weapon_frag or weapon_pistol to start with the grenades or pistol instead.
Q: How do I change teams in team deathmatch?
A: Go to options, then change your model to a rebel or a combine in order to
join the rebels or the combine. You may not be able to change teams if they are
unbalanced already or if you have just joined the game.
Q: How do I get the crowbar/stunstick instead of the stunstick/crowbar?
A: Change your model to a rebel for the crowbar, and a combine for the
stunstick.
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| 7. Update history |
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Version 1.0
-Wrote everything. 'Nuff said.